Journal Information
Images in Intensive Medicine
Full text access
Available online 11 April 2025
Whispers of the heart: The journey of an aortic dissection
Susurros del corazón: la travesía de una disección aórtica
Visits
4
Pablo Carrión Montanera,
, Mario Sutil-Vegaa, Jordi Sans-Rosellóa,b
a Servicio de Cardiología, Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari. Institut d'Investigació i Innovació Parc Taulí (I3PT), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Sabadell, Spain
b Departamento de Medicina, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
This item has received
Article information
Full Text
Download PDF
Statistics
Figures (4)
Show moreShow less
Additional material (1)
Full Text

A 47-year-old woman with a past medical history of bicuspid aortopathy in her paternal grandfather; her parents died young in a traffic accident. Due to palpitations, the outpatient echocardiogram performed revealed the presence of a dilated ventricle with a left ventricular end-diastolic diameter of 71mm, indexed 3.4mm/m², left ventricular ejection fraction of 55–60%, in addition to a bicuspid aortic valve with fusion between the right and left coronary cusps that triggered severe aortic regurgitation (Fig. 2) with an aortic root of 40mm. A computed tomography scan was requested for preoperative study (Fig. 1), which was performed 3 weeks later, evidencing a Stanford/DeBakey type A aortic dissection I with an intimal flap at root level that extended longitudinally (Fig. 3) and spirally towards the left common iliac artery, involving the right brachiocephalic trunk without compromising its flow. In light of these findings, the patient was transferred to the cardiac intensive care unit for emergency surgery, undergoing David surgery with independent reimplantation of the brachiocephalic trunk.

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Funding

None declared.

Appendix A
Supplementary data

The following are Supplementary data to this article:

Copyright © 2025. Elsevier España, S.L.U. and SEMICYUC
Download PDF
Idiomas
Medicina Intensiva (English Edition)
Article options
Tools
Supplemental materials